The present invention relates to an illuminative lamp disposed to illuminate the inside of a showroom or a part before a showcase. The present invention more particularly relates to a showcase provided with an illuminative lamp having terminals at end portions.
Heretofore, in a showcase installed in a supermarket, a convenience store or the like, an illuminative lamp for illuminating the inside of a showroom, a part before a showcase or the like is disposed in the showroom formed in a main body. The illuminative lamp is positioned and attached to a lower surface of a canopy positioned at a front part of a ceiling surface of the showroom, or a front part of a lower surface of a shelf in a case where a plurality of shelves are arranged. As the illuminative lamp, a fluorescent lamp or the like is generally used. Therefore, a replacement operation is required owing to deterioration with age.
Each illuminative lamp disposed in the showroom is connected to feeder lines connected to a power source disposed in a machine room (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-143928 (Document 1)). Since the illuminative lamp is attached to the front part of the showroom, the feeder lines are drawn and wired to an attachment position of the illuminative lamp, and fixed along the lower surface of the shelf or the ceiling surface. A socket is attached to an end portion of the feeder line. When a terminal disposed at an end portion of the illuminative lamp is attached to the socket, the illuminative lamp is electrically connected to the feeder lines, and electrically connected to the power source via the feeder lines.
In this case, in consideration of an operability in attaching or detaching the illuminative lamp to or from the sockets connected to the feeder lines, the feeder line in the vicinity of the socket is fixed to the vicinity of an attachment place of the illuminative lamp in a state in which predetermined looseness is kept in the feeder line. Therefore, in a state in which the illuminative lamp is attached, there has been a problem that, when the feeder lines sag downward from the lower surface of the shelf or the ceiling surface, the feeder lines are exposed on the front surface of the showroom, and an appearance is unfavorable.
Moreover, the illuminative lamp electrically connected to the feeder lines via the sockets is fixed by holding the lamp with clips or the like fixed to the lower surface of the shelf or the ceiling surface of the showroom. Therefore, since the long illuminative lamp attached to the showcase so as to range from side to side needs to be detached from or attached to a plurality of clips attached in a longitudinal direction, or detached from or attached to each socket during the replacement operation, there is a problem that the operation is troublesome.
To solve the problem, an attaching device of a fluorescent lamp is developed as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 5-69892 (Document 2) in order to simplify the above-described replacement operation of the illuminative lamp and prevent exposure of the feeder lines. This attaching device of the fluorescent lamp is constituted of a socket main body fixed to a lower surface of a shelf, and fluorescent lamp holders fixedly attached to the socket main body. The fluorescent lamp holders are attached to opposite ends of the fluorescent lamp provided with terminal pins for receiving power. When the fluorescent lamp holders are attached to the socket main body, the feeder lines are not loosened or exposed from the shelf lower surface, and the fluorescent lamp is attached to the shelf lower surface by only engagement of the fluorescent lamp holders with the socket main body.
However, in the above-described socket constitution disclosed in Document 2, the socket main body to be attached to the shelf lower surface is positioned at an attachment position by protrusions protruding from an upper surface of a horizontal portion, and attached to the shelf lower surface by screws. At this time, a fixing direction of each screw is parallel to an attaching/detaching direction of the fluorescent lamp. That is, the fluorescent lamp is attached or detached in a direction vertical to the shelf lower surface, whereas a fixing direction of the screw is similarly a direction vertical to the shelf lower surface.
Therefore, when the attaching/detaching operation of the fluorescent lamp is repeatedly performed, the screws to fix the socket main body loosen, and the socket main body might fall from the shelf lower surface. Especially, when the fluorescent lamp is removed, the fluorescent lamp is extracted downwards together with the fluorescent lamp holders. In consequence, the engagement between the fluorescent lamp holders and the socket main body is released to remove the fluorescent lamp. Therefore, to remove the fluorescent lamp, when the lamp is extracted right downwards, an only force to release the engagement between the fluorescent lamp holders and the socket main body is applied to the socket main body. Therefore, the screws which fix the socket main body to the shelf lower surface easily loosen, and there has been a problem that the socket main body disadvantageously falls during the removing operation.